Studying abroad is a popular choice for many Tufts students, but it does not come without some difficulties. For years students have struggled through applying to a different school, transferring credit, mastering a second language and working through culture shock.
This past fall, however, during a difficult and heated election year, students studying abroad had an additional concern - being judged based solely on the American political scene rather than their individual characteristics.
"In Spain, President Zapatero is publicly anti-Bush, so everybody is completely anti-Bush," said junior Mary Humphreys, who spent the fall in Madrid. "If you even mention the fact that you are a Bush fan, you get completely shunned."
Junior Claire Freierman went to Talloires, France this past summer and found that people were quick to ask whether she liked President Bush. "It seemed for some people that's how they chose whether or not to condemn me," she said.
Junior Julie Buce said that she, too, was often asked about her political standpoint while spending the fall semester in England with the Tufts in Oxford program.
"People would notice my American accent, and the first question they would ask was, 'Bush or Kerry?'" she said. "It was equivalent to being a freshman and getting asked, 'Hi, what's your name, where are you from?"
Some students felt that animosity extended only towards political figures, while others felt it was widespread towards anything "American."
Junior Nick Boyd, who lived in Europe until 2002, feels that although tensions between Europeans and Americans have gotten worse, they have always existed. "I left Europe before the transatlantic tensions we know today really erupted, but even back then hostility toward the United States was strong," he said.
"They are very anti-the American way of life," Humphreys said. "They think that we are arrogant and ignorant, but at the same time they completely buy into American pop culture."
Junior Hilary Pentz, who spent the fall in Seville, Spain, had a different perspective. "I thought that people were going to associate me with Bush and just hate Americans, but in my experience they weren't anti-American: they were more anti-Bush," she said.
Boyd, however, finds this to be something of a contradiction. "Some Europeans like to say they dislike only the Bush administration, not America as a whole," he said. "They forget that, policies aside, Bush embodies typically American character attributes that a solid majority of Americans approve of - leadership, courage, integrity, and patriotism. Americans don't object to the idea of a cowboy as a President; Europeans can't stand it."
As a result of negativity, whether anti-American or Bush, some students studying abroad felt pressure to downplay aspects of their lives that appeared stereotypically "American."
"People definitely make an effort not to look American because you get treated in a completely different way," Humphreys said. "People try to take advantage of you - they think you are ignorant no matter what."
Buce recalls a story from a friend who spent the semester in Italy. "She was with a bunch of very conservative girls and they would lie to people like cab drivers because they were scared to say they were pro-Bush," Buce said. "One time one of the cab drivers asked their political stance first, insinuating he wasn't going to drive them if they were pro-Bush."
Some students attribute part of the animosity towards the United States to foreign media sources. Buce recalls a British newspaper headline following the election that asked, "How can 59,054,087 people be so DUMB?"
"I would try to explain to [my British friends] that the media was giving a false impression of Americans," Buce said.
Some American students abroad for the semester observed a sentiment among many Europeans that the outcome of the American presidential election was as consequential for them as it was for Americans.
"On the night of the election, there was a viewing party, and all the Americans left at like 1 a.m., but the British were there all night," Buce said. "About 100 out of the 500 students in my college were there, and they were really into it - cheering for Kerry. It was like a football game."
